Steering committee asks for more time to review comments and issues with draft downtown master plan

photo by: City of Lawrence

The Downtown Master Plan Steering Committee meets with city staff and consultants as part of its meeting May 27, 2021.

A steering committee tasked with providing input on the draft downtown Lawrence master plan has requested more time to consider various questions and issues raised in public comments on the plan.

The committee met Thursday for what was scheduled to be its third and final meeting as part of the development of the plan, but members agreed that they needed more time to consider the issues before providing a recommendation on the draft. At-large committee member Sarah Hill-Nelson, of the Bowersock Mills & Power Company, said she needed more time to consider the comments before she could vote on what changes to recommend.

“I see all these comments that people have made, and I think there are some substantive comments,” Hill-Nelson said.

The 119-page draft plan will guide growth and development downtown for the next 20 years. It provides recommendations regarding land use, development, building heights, parking, transportation, infrastructure, streetscapes and public art installations, among other elements, as the Journal-World recently reported. The plan includes guidance on the redevelopment of city-owned parking lots as well as privately owned properties. It recommends a permanent space for the Lawrence Farmers’ Market, a river walk that improves access to the Kansas River, a vacancy tax to encourage development of empty storefronts and some changes to historic preservation ordinances, among other recommendations.

The city hired Houseal Lavigne Associates in August 2018 to complete the plan, a process that has taken longer than anticipated amid the coronavirus pandemic. As part of Thursday’s meeting, project manager Nik Davis highlighted some of the recurring comments or points of disagreement that consultants have heard since releasing the draft plan. Consultants held an open house last week and also received about 20 pages of written comments.

Davis shared about a dozen recurring comments or concerns. Those included that building heights should “step down” to fewer floors when adjacent to neighborhoods; that residential and other proposed land uses will increase traffic and parking issues; that the plan should not recommend any changes to current historic preservation ordinances; and doubts regarding the compatibility of entertainment venues and residential uses. There was support expressed for the vacancy tax, but some suggested it should be more than the $400 per year that was proposed.

Davis said there were multiple comments supporting temporary street closures for events, and comments both for and against the idea of converting Massachusetts Street into a pedestrian mall, which the plan does not recommend. Concerns were also voiced about the plan’s recommendations for redeveloping certain sites, such as the post office or the Replay Lounge, and Davis said the final draft could be more clear that the plan is only providing guidance should those properties become available in the future, or could potentially remove some of the specific business references. Support was voiced for pedestrian and bicycle improvements, as well as for creative approaches such as circulating transit to help improve store access.

Steering committee members also brought up issues they wanted to see included or better addressed by the plan. Those included equity and inclusion, safety and other needs of downtown workers, and economic and other considerations of downtown businesses. Ultimately, the committee voted 13-0, with a few members absent, to recommend to the City Commission that the public comment period for the draft plan be extended an additional three weeks and that the committee hold a work session to further consider public comments and develop its recommended revisions.

“I hope that when you convey this to the City Commission that it’s in the light that we want to be as helpful as possible as a committee,” committee member Steve Clark told city staff. “We want to actually work through these tough issues.”

The City Commission was originally scheduled to receive the committee’s recommendation as part of its meeting June 1.

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